“I didn’t think the chance would come so soon. Curious how things happen as you don’t think they’re going to happen, and don’t happen as you think they’re going to happen, and here the whole thing comes out in only a few weeks. We were driven back and I missed Dick as the battle closed. Of course I came to hunt for him, and I found him. Easy, Mrs. Mason, don’t get excited now. Yes, you can have his head in your own lap, but it must be moved gently. That’s where he’s hurt. Don’t tremble, ma’am. He isn’t going to die, not by a long shot. The bullet meant to kill him, but finding his head too hard, it turned away, and went out through his hair. He won’t have any scar, either, because it’s all under the thickest part of his hair.
“Of course his eyes are closed, ma’am. He hasn’t come around yet, but he’s coming fast. Don’t cry on his face, ma’am. Boys never like to have their faces cried on. I’d have brought him in myself, but I found I was too weak to carry him. It’s been too short a time since the Second Manassas for me to have got back all my strength. So I just bound up his head, held it in my lap, and yelled for help. Along came a rebel party, bearing two wounded, and they looked at me. ‘You’re about pumped out,’ said one of them, ‘but we’ll take your friend in for you.’ ‘No, you won’t,’ I said. ‘Why not?’ said they. ‘Because you’re no account Johnnies,’ I said, ‘while my wounded friend and I are high-toned Yanks.’ ‘I beg your pardon,’ said the Johnny, who was one of the most polite fellows I ever saw, ‘I didn’t see your uniform clearly by this dim light, but the parties looking for the wounded are mostly going in, and you’re likely to be left here with your friend, who needs attention. Better come along with us and be prisoners and give him a chance to get well.’
“Now, that was white, real white, but I thanked him and said that as soon as General Buell heard that the best two soldiers in his whole army were here resting, he’d come with his finest ambulance for us, driving his horses himself. They said then they didn’t suppose they were needed and went on. But do you know, ma’am, every one of those Johnnies, as he passed poor old unconscious Dick with his head in my lap, took off his hat.”
“It was a fine thing for them to do,” said Colonel Winchester, and then he whispered: “I’m glad you talked that way, Warner. It helps. You see, she’s feeling more cheerful already.”
“Yes, and you see old Dick’s opening his eyes. Isn’t it strange that the first thing he should see when he opens them here on the battlefield should be his mother?”
“A strange and happy circumstance,” said Colonel Winchester.
Dick opened his eyes.
“Mother!” he exclaimed.
Her arms were already around him.